Review: 7-Eleven @ NE MLK and Weidler in Portland OR
After work (I get off work late), I will usually walk across the bridge and down the street a few blocks, because the second to last bus leaves a minute before work gets out, and the last bus leaves 35 mimutes before work gets out. I would rather walk halfway home then sit at a bus stop for a half hour.
A lot of the times I walk, I go to this 7-Eleven. I have been in this 7-Eleven about half a dozen times before this. Aside from those half a dozen times, I have only been to this 7-Eleven at around 12:30AM. I have never been here (I don’t think) in daylight.
This is not the type of 7-Eleven you want to be in at 12:30AM. There are two cashiers regularly working at this time. One is a black guy who is really good. One is a Latino guy who is always really high. I know he smokes weed because one time he handed weed to the customer in front of me, so the customer could roll a blunt for them outside. But also, I’m pretty sure he is usually high on other things. He is very slow and seems confused while making transactions. The upside is he gives people stuff for free a lot. For example, I went in and got a Big Gulp and a hot dog for $2.22. The only hot dog he had was old, so he gave it to me for free, so it was $0.99 for a hot dog and a large Mtn Dew, it was dope.
Many of the customers are clearly high. A lot of the people who shop there look like they’re into heroin, but some look like they’re into meth. One time there were 3 bros from California that were in there buying a pizza. They waited for the clerk to make the pizza in the in-store oven. A guy who seemed heroin, for some reason, tried to pick a fight with the California bros. The California bros replied with things like ‘don’t do drugs’ and ‘you are why I don’t do drugs’. The heroin user backed down and seemed sad. He shouted after the California bros ‘everyone has their own issues, okay?!’. Myself and the clerk did not acknowledge this interaction. I felt really sad about this entire interaction.
If you are in NE Portland, there are better 7-Elevens (NE Weidler & 21st, NE MLK & Sumner, N Killingsworth & Greeley, and especially NE Killingsworth & 15th). I would not recommend coming here, at least not at 12:30-1AM, if you are easily bothered by shady characters. I think it’s an alright 7-Eleven though, and it has its quirky occurences.
4/10
